Skip to Main Content

Copyright

What is in this guide?

This guide provides an overview of the basics of copyright that are relevant to teaching and learning at Durham College, and includes additional resources to help you deal with intellectual property and copyright-protected works. It is important for all faculty, staff, and students at the college to respect copyright law. 

In addition to this guide, you can contact the library for one-on-one consultations, classroom sessions. Faculty are encouraged to complete the Copyright Literacy for Ontario College Employees course on DC Connect.

What is copyright?

In simple terms, copyright of a work is the right to copy that work. Only the copyright holder can reproduce the work or grant permission for other's to do so. The copyright holder has legally protected economic and moral rights. Their economic right gives the copyright holder the right to receive payment for use of their work. Their moral rights gives the copyright holder the right to protect how their work is used. Copyright in Canada automatically exists upon the creation of a work and in general its duration is the lifetime of the creator plus 70 years from the end of the year the creator died.